11 Aug

UT volleyball picked second in national preseason poll

A year after reaching the NCAA championship game, Chiaka Ogbogu and the University of Texas volleyball team have been picked second in the AVCA's national preseason poll (photo courtesy of texassports.com).

By Steve Lansdale

AUSTIN, Texas — For the fifth consecutive season, the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) has picked the University of Texas volleyball team to finish among the top three teams in the nation, tabbing the Longhorns second in its annual preseason poll.

Texas had three first-place votes for a total of 1,517 points to trail only Nebraska, which won last year’s NCAA title and collected 60 first-place votes for a total of 1,594 points. The only other first-place vote went to Stanford, which is 11th in the preseason poll.

Minnesota, Wisconsin and Kansas trail Texas to round out the top five; the remainder of the top 10 spots went to Hawaii, Washington, USC, Penn State and Florida.

Texas will play three teams ranked in the preseason top five: Nebraska (Aug. 27), Wisconsin (Sept. 18) and Kansas (Oct. 29). Other teams in the preseason top 25 that will face the Longhorns this season include No. 16 Texas A&M and No. 25 Colorado State.